Egyptian Chief Rabbi Nahum Effendi Appointed Member of Egyptian Senate

Rabbi Chaim Nahum Effendi, the Chief Rabbi of Egypt, has been appointed by king Fuad as a member of the new Egyptian Senate.

Chief Rabbi Nahum Effendi, who was elected Chief Rabbi of Cairo in 1925, was previously Chief Rabbi of Turkey, and in that capacity played a very important part not only in Jewish life in Turkey, but also in the general life of the country. He undertook several diplomatic missions on behalf of the Government and became known as the Rabbi-Diplomat. He acted in a prominent capacity in this regard on behalf of the Turkish Government during the Peace Conference in Versailles.

When he was appointed as Chief Rabbi of Egypt King Fuad gave his personal approval of the appointment and sent his congratulations. Before he left Paris where he had been living for some time, the Central Committee of the Alliance Israelite Universelle gave him a farewell reception there. Professor Silvain Levi, the famous scholar who is President of the Alliance, expressed to the Chief Rabbi the gratitude of the Alliance and of Jewry as a whole for his great services. The Chief Rabbi in his reply said that he had done his best and it was his ambition to continue to do his work in that spirit. A silver souvenir medal was presented to him at the gathering bearing the inscription “L’Alliance Israelite Universelle a Haim Nahum Effendi, ancien Grand Rabbi de Turquie, Grand Rabbi du Caire, 1925”. Mr. Abram Elkus, former United States Ambassador in Constantinople was also present at the gathering and associated himself with the sentiments expressed there in view of his contact with him during the time when they had both been in Turkey. Before the Chief Rabbi left Paris for Egypt the Egyptian Minister in Paris at the time, who is a brother-in-law of King Fuad, paid him an official visit at his home.